Contents

The Hype about Hydrogen contends that global warming and U.S. reliance on foreign fuel imports cannot be solved by the hypothetical hydrogen economy that has been advanced as a possible solution to these problems, and that "neither government policy nor business investment should be based on the belief that hydrogen cars will have meaningful commercial success in the near or medium term."

The book explains how fuel cells work and compares different types. It then reviews the difficulties in marketing fuel cells for applications other than transportation and argues that these are in fact easier and more likely to happen sooner than transportation applications.

The history of hydrogen and its methods of production are then described. The book claims that the most common and cost-effective method of hydrogen production is from natural gas, which emits large amounts of CO2 (a greenhouse gas), since it would require too much electric power to produce hydrogen using the electrolysis method. The monetary costs of hydrogen fueling infrastructure for the U.S. are then estimated at half a trillion U.S. dollars, and the book describes additional energy and environment costs to liquefy and compress hydrogen for use in fueling stations.

The book goes on to discuss the hypothetical evolution of the cost of vehicles with fuel cells and with hydrogen-powered internal combustion engines, as well as possible adoption strategies. It then reviews the issue of the greenhouse effect and offers four reasons why hydrogen would not be useful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions:

In its conclusion, the book states that hydrogen will not be widely available as a transportation fuel for a long time, and describes other strategies, including energy conservation techniques, to combat global warming.

The Hype about Hydrogen was named one of the best science and technology books of 2004 by Library Journal.[7] The New York Review of Books stated that the book gives "the most direct answers" to the question on the promise of a near-term hydrogen economy, calling Romm "a hydrogen realist".[12] The environmental community newsletter TerraGreen agrees with Romm in the claim that "the car of the near future is the hybrid vehicle", and cites the book's good reception by Toyota's advanced technologies group.[13] The San Diego Union Tribune's 2004 review noted that Romm's "clear logic" reaches conclusions similar to an authoritative study issued by the National Academy of Sciences.[14]

Three UC Davis scientists who also reviewed the book agreed on its basic premises, but claimed that Romm had made selective use of sources, for example, citing the highest cost estimates, adopting extremely high estimates of efficiency for advanced gasoline vehicles, and giving weight to controversial non-peer-reviewed studies. [15]